Posted on 02/21/2008 11:04:42 AM PST by 11th_VA
BELGRADE, Serbia - Serb rioters broke into the U.S. Embassy Thursday and set fire to an office after a massive protest against Kosovo's independence that drew an estimated 150,000 people.
Masked attackers broke into the building, which has been closed this week, and tried to throw furniture from an office. A blaze broke out inside one of the offices and parts of the facade also caught fire.
Authorities drove armored jeeps down the street and fired tear gas to clear the crowd. The protesters dispersed into side streets where they continued clashing with authorities.
The neighboring Croatian Embassy also was attacked by the same group of protesters.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack strongly urged the Serbian government to protect the U.S. Embassy. He said the U.S. ambassador was at his home and was in contact with U.S. officials.
More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
But the declaration by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has been rejected by Serbia's government and the ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo. Russia, China and numerous other nations have also condemned the declaration, saying it sets a precedent that separatist groups around the world will seek to emulate.
Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Belgrade's control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A U.N. mission has governed Kosovo since, with more than 16,000 NATO troops and KFOR, a multiethnic force, policing the province.
But Serbia — and Kosovo's Serbs, who make up less than 10 percent of Kosovo's population — refuse to give up Kosovo, a territory considered the ancient cradle of Serbs' state and religion.
Earlier Thursday, police estimated that about 150,000 people had attended a rally in the Serbian capital. The crowd waved Serbian flags and carried signs reading "Stop USA terror." One group set fire to a red-and-black Albanian flag.
The U.S. embassy in Belgrade burns after masked attackers broke into the building and set an office on fire at the end of a massive protest against Western-backed Kosovo independence, in the Serbian capital, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. More than 150,000 Serbs gathered at the rally vowing to retake the territory which is viewed as Serbia's religious and national heartland. (AP Photo)
I agree that Russia needs to make a firm stand, but Putin has a major difficulty in making a military stand with troops and tanks. He would have to get transit rights from a neighboring state to get to Serbia. He has no direct land or sea route to Serbia. Therefore, he may be relegated to action in the UN and moral and financial support in the near term.
~~~WELCOME TO THE NEW WORLD ORDER~~~:0(
They didn’t massacre lots of Kosovars in 1999. There have been less than 6,000 dead found in all of kosovo and that includes militants, serbs who were killed, people who died in the bombings and any possible massacred Albanians. All in all its small casualties for a civil war combined with a massive bombing campaing. Not too mention that no Albanians had been driven out of Kosovo untill after we started bombing.
His game is getting our embassy burned down then. Why would he play that game? I believe he truly supports it.
Muslim MO!
Yep, you’ve lost your mind.
The Muslim Bosnians did the atrocities, with the help of Clinton and his media minions,
just like the Muslim Albanians.
You are obviously either ignorant and
determined to remain that way or a closet Jihadi pushing your agenda.
I couldn’t agree more. Bush will be convicted by the law of unintended consequences. “GUILTY!”
This will just make the claim that much more sweet when the majority of certain states want to break off into Aztlan.
Come to think of it, that law probably doesn’t apply. What seems to us like a move of ignorance, may very well be a move of convenience.
There’s little doubt where the globalists are headed.
Add me to that list of Americans - I can’t understand why we did this.
Another poster, on another thread, did some research and came to the conclusion that the new state of Kosovo now encompasses 3/4 of the old Serbia and has many Christians in it’s northern territories. So basically, Serbia just got 3/4 of it’s country stolen.
This craving to be “liked” or “have a legacy” will bring the US to its knees. We need respect, not approbation! The Muzzies will NEVER like us. NEVER!
So, some angry Serbian civilians burning down our embassy is more morally repugnant than us having stolen the heart of their country and given it too their enemies. Not too mention haven previously bombed their country to ruins - including using cluster bombs, attacking civilian infrastructure, and even targeting their TV station.
“The Serbs invaded Kosovo. Get your facts straight.”
Uhh?? I think you should get your facts straight before you make such comments. The Serbs have been in Kosovo longer than white man has been in the US! I’ld suggest you do a whole lot of reading before you continue discussing this subject.
I'm not going to let his BS stand.
The war on terror, hmmmm, I wonder who we're fighting? Christians? Buddhist? Jews? We're fighting the same people who flew planes into our building. And that idiot says it's not against islam? The last time I looked, islam was islamic.
to you and others I have had my faith restored that not all Americans are sheep when it comes to things like this
We should have been helping serbs to fight radical islam yet instead we have islam appeasment
I have hear dpopele say well the serbs went i , well yes they did but they don’t know about what happened before hand because ammanpour didn’t want to report the ethnic cleansing being done by muslims
to think serbs were a majority in that part of their own country,
clinton, wesley clark and Bush has helped to ethnic cleanse a country and say you will not have that land back
disgusting
Just wait.
>>And are you telling me we never f’d up like idiots ?<<
Nope. We do it all the time. But what do either of us mean by “we”. After all, none of the decision makers here were a part of the Bay of Pigs fiasco.
But ultimately, we are a little like the grunt in the trench second guessing our generals, not knowing that our particular group is a mere diversion. Or it could be Galipoli.
We won’t know until after the fact, and even then we may think it went badly when it actually would have gone far worse if we had NOT done what we did. Sometimes we never really know what “good” long term consequences came from apparent boneheaded decisions.
It really is like chess.
Clinton may have started the ball rolling, but GWB and Condi Rice tipped it over the edge last weekend when they openly supported and acknowledged the new “country” of Kosovo, along with their Euro allies. They just handed over a long time and bitterly fought part of the former Serbia to the moslem scum who have been fighting for control for centuries. What the hell were those morons thinking?
I honestly don't think it's anything that rational. I really think it has to do with this bizarre desire that seems to have arisen in the EU and the US to suck up to the Muslims. Every completely irrational demand of theirs is somehow treated as if it deserved serious consideration and as if they had the power to force us to do it if we didn't agree to do it voluntarily. They don't, yet, although they will if we keep this up.
Furthermore, European countries hate Christians and will do anything to spite them; and Bush somehow has always felt that he has to prove that he doesn't favor Christians and in fact doesn't even give them routine protection. Can you imagine the US rushing to help a struggling Christian population? Right, neither can I.
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